Rescuers work at the site of a building damaged in a Russian missile attack, during Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine on December 31, 2022.
Gleb Garanich | Reuters
Multiple explosions were heard in Kiev and elsewhere across Ukraine and air raid sirens sounded across the country in the first few hours after midnight on New Year’s Day.
As the sirens blared, some in Kyiv shouted from their balconies, “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!” Reuters witnesses reported.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said debris from a missile destroyed by Ukrainian air defenses damaged a car in the center of the capital, but there were no preliminary injuries.
The military government in Kyiv said 23 “aerial objects” launched by Russia were destroyed.
The attacks came minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent a New Year’s message wishing his country victory in its 11th month of unending war.
Explosions continued after that, with no immediate reports of damage, Reuters witnesses said.
There are also unofficial reports of explosions in the southern Kherson region and the northern Zhytomyr region.
The attacks followed a barrage of more than 20 cruise missiles fired at targets across Ukraine on Saturday in what Ukraine’s human rights inspector Dmytro Lubinets called “New Year’s Eve Terror”.
Kyiv city and regional officials said on the messaging app Telegram that the air defense systems were working. Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region, said the area was being attacked by drones. It was not immediately clear if any of the targets were hit.
In another development, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the southern Russian region of Belgorod bordering Ukraine, said that as a result of overnight shelling on the outskirts of the town of Shebekino, there was damage to houses but no injuries. death.
Ukraine has never publicly claimed responsibility for any attacks inside Russia but has called them “retribution” for Russia’s February 24 invasion.
